‘Politics not main feature’

14/04/2017

Yusuf Awadh Al-Azmi

One of my friends recounted a seminar he attended lately, which had a glamorous title and delved into political issues. I will not be surprised to find politics in the list of options for any given meal or cooking program, because everything is politicized these days!

The title of the seminar was ‘Intellectual’. It was held inside a house where people entered through the back door. It was difficult locating the place situated inside a new estate, which could be reached only via GPS or Google Maps.

The rate of attendance was reasonable despite the trouble in locating the venue. General description of the seminar indicated weak potential and lack of press coverage, although it served the interests of speakers positively in terms of maintaining composure while delivering their speeches.

The speakers were also cautious in their choice of words. This is a clear indication that they benefited from the previous events. I think it’s a reasonable trait that warded off people who could have engaged in ‘witch-hunting’ and clung to something a speaker may have said in error.

The subject was general and the approach philosophical rather than political, which made the audience to benefit from the intellectual discussion. It is important for people to change their approach while addressing issues, as some approaches usually receive more fans in an argument. The seminar ended peacefully just like the way it started, and frankly, it was productive and informative to the audience — as narrated by my friend, especially during the ‘question and answer time’ that focused on general complaints and difficulties encountered in political marketing.

The seminar accepted and accommodated critics in good faith. Any idea, regardless, needs ideal character model of people to propagate culturally or politically, and should attract the public through sacrifices made. Non-religious factions nowadays suffer more than mere rejection by the people. With regard to the religious inclined political factions, they are well financed and strong, and in some cases, receive funding from the government publicly.

This must stop! It is a little difficult to have a large number of followers under one’s influence, and it’s even difficult to attract many people without charisma. Nonetheless, officials of the political groups we have here are tainted with corruption, and it’s necessary to be of integrity to be able to attract as many people as possible without effort. “It was good to attend the intellectual seminar where politics was not the dominating feature”, said my friend.